The Office for Photography invites you to the opening of the exhibition of the prominent conceptual artist Željko Jerman, held on Monday, 9 June 2025, at 7:00 p.m. at the Spot Gallery (Čanićeva 6, Zagreb). The exhibition brings together works from the private collections of Bojana Švertasek and Darko Šimičić, especially highlighting Jerman’s experimental and innovative use of the photographic medium. The curators of the exhibition are Sandra Križić Roban and Darko Šimičić. After the opening, the jazz band IRK Three (Domagoj Leljak, Krunoslav Levačić and Ivar Roban Križić) will perform at the courtyard of the Office for Photography.
During the exhibition, the programme will also include a workshop on making photograms, titled Is there any point in lying down on paper and repeating the unrepeatable?, the launch of the new issue of the magazine Fototxt vol. 9/10, dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Spot Gallery and artist Željko Jerman, a panel discussion Memories of Jerman, and a screening of Jerman’s short film, The Film That Might Be Continued (1975/76, 6’) and other experimental films selected by Sara Simić. The above events will be accompanied by a sale of printed volumes published by the Office for Photography.
Željko Jerman, “Krepaj fotografijo (Drop Dead Photography)”, 1973
Jerman’s photographs, which we attribute to the photographic medium for lack of a better alternative, are gestures that reveal what they are actually made of, without being representational. Sometimes we might point at one of the works and say that we recognise a human form (surrendered to gradual disintegration, like most of what we see or are able to name), but this procedure will not get us far. That is precisely why the decision to reserve for Jerman the tenth anniversary of the photography exhibition space, the Spot Gallery, is symbolic. Because, as on several previous occasions, we are not concerned with what the photographs depict. We are simply letting them, in Barthes’ words,[1] be indefatigable expressions, of what the artists created, ardently advocating photography. As always, the meticulously prepared documentation that Darko Šimičić has collected over the years – dedicated to the artist and his work – is the indispensable “ground zero” from which I depart. Among other things, it contains the text of his important exhibition, held in 1975 at the Centre for Photography, Film, and Television (CEFFT) in Zagreb.
Jerman’s journey through photography begins with a photography course he took in 1968, which coincides almost exactly with his membership in a rock band. It is a time when the world is grey and he captures it in grey photographs, combining different techniques and often writing on photographic paper. His short statements are almost manifestos; there are also dates, death is a frequent (and inevitable) motif, and the formats he employs are already demanding. Not all, but the width of the photographic paper that was sold in rolls was set at 100 cm and measured 10 metres in length. In his own home he opened the photographic studio called Blow Up in 1970, a few years after the release of Michelangelo Antonioni’s eponymous film. Martek states that Jerman’s friends were impressed by this sort of initiative, which was rare at that time.
Radoslav Putar states that Jerman’s overstepping of photographic boundaries occurs “at the moment of stagnation or at least stabilisation of advances in the promotion of photography in our milieu”.[2] From today’s perspective, it was still a time of exceptional developments in photography, of the promotion that was made possible by the launch of the magazine Spot in 1972, as well as institutional support of the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade and the Rotovž Exhibition Salon in Maribor; in parallel, the series of exhibitions titled New Photography[3] promoted significant developments on the scene, especially the pivotal experiments of the conceptual 1970s. Although we will almost unhesitatingly regard him in this key, Jerman’s sensibility does not unquestionably yield to conceptualism. If we focus on the subject (which rests at the root of subjectivity) and we resist lamentations about its separation from the object (which is to some extent appropriate for photography as a medium that, in principle, enables neutral perception), we will probably also arrive at self-realisations, displaced from the mind to the body.[4] In fact, it is precisely the body that becomes the collective space of Jerman’s senses, which he begins to use in the early 1970s, aware of the limitations of the medium in which he operates.
Jerman remains known for the fact that he obstructed photographic techniques, often avoiding the use of the camera itself, or rather, reducing its expressive potential to the lowest possible level.[5] The artist’s life and body were his enduring tool and object of interest, uncompromisingly presented in all phases of creative and vital force, as well as powerlessness. This state was never peaceful nor subdued, while his works continued their struggle for survival – especially those executed on photo paper by spilling chemicals, which he sent out into the world without adequate protection. His messages from the early 1970s onwards attest to a unique artistic practice of distinctly existentialist, ethical and self-destructive characteristics. Among other things, he captured certain intermedial happenings, exhibition actions, and wall inscriptions that he most likely wrote himself, subsequently intervening in the photographs in line with his principle of acting “with all available means, without prejudice about autonomy of the medium”, as he termed it.[6] Jerman remains unclear, often communicating with himself, letting us come closer to the place where he left a significant mark on the world, even though, in his words, that world was not his.
Sandra Križić Roban
Excerpt from the text to be published in the magazine FOTOTXT 9/10.
Željko Jerman (Zagreb, 1949 – Korčula, 2006) was a prominent conceptual artist, a member of the informal Group of Six Authors active during the 1970s, and the Working Community of Artists – Podroom. He demonstrated a strong interest in photography as early as the second half of the 1960s, and in 1970, he opened the photography studio Blow Up, at his house in Voćarska Street. In his work, he consistently explored the possibilities, limits and potential of the photographic medium –experimenting with chemicals, the development process, negatives, and photo paper, and he approached photography in a highly expressive manner – as an object which he intends to cut up, tear or burn. He often made use of textual elements, which serve to further emphasise the existentialist aspect of his works. By exhibiting in public space, he introduced personal messages and intimate reflections into the context of everyday life.
The exhibition is organised in collaboration with Bojana Švertasek and Darko Šimičić, whom we would like to thank for their assistance in conducting research and for generously loaning us works from their collections.
Related events:
- Concert of jazz band IRK Three (Domagoj Leljak, Krunoslav Levačić and Ivar Roban Križić), 9th of June, 7.30 p.m., courtyard of the Office for Photography
- Workshop on making photograms, titled Is there any point in lying down on paper and repeating the unrepeatable? in collaboration with the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb, 14th of June, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Velesajam (applications on info@officeforphotography.com)
- Launch of the new issue of the magazine Fototxt vol. 9/10, dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Spot Gallery and artist Željko Jerman, a panel discussion Memories of Jerman, and a screening of Jerman’s short film, The Film That Might Be Continued (1975/76, 16’) and other experimental films selected by Sara Simić, 27th of June, 7 p.m., Gallery Spot
Admission to all programs is free of charge.
The exhibition is supported by Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb, and Kultura Nova Foundation.
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[1] Roland Barthes. Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography (translated by Richard Howard), London: Vintage Books, 1993, 4.
[2] Radoslav Putar. Željko Jerman. Subjektivna fotografija, Zagreb: Centar za fotografiju, film i televiziju, Galerija grada Zagreba, 1975, n.p.
[3] Four exhibitions were held, the first in 1974, the last in 1984, all co-organised by the three aforementioned institutions.
[4] Merleau-Ponty’s hypothesis expounded in a note on intersubjectivity. Vladimir Biti. Pojmovnik suvremene književne i kulturne teorije, Zagreb: Matica hrvatska, 2000., 223.
[5] Zdenko Rus. “Trace”, Subjective and Elementary Photographs, Photo and Photogram Paintings 1970 – 1995 (exhibition catalogue), Zagreb: Moderna galerija, 1996, 3.
[6] Nena Baljković. “Željko Jerman: Fotografija kao vlastiti trag”, Pitanja, 7-8 (1975).
